I hope you had a great OTBN 2026. For those of you who don’t know the term, it stands for Open That Bottle Night. It’s taken place on the last Saturday in February since 2000. It was created by the wine writers of the Wall Street Journal who were looking for a great excuse to open oldie moldy wines that you and your friends may have been saving for just a little bit too long.
My OTBN History
When I lived in CA, I would host or attend a big OTBN gathering every year. What was fun about that is, if we had 10 guests, we got to try 10 wines. Many of the wines were past their prime. But a few were wonderful. We always voted on our favorites. And of course, we always had some new wines just in case none of the oldie moldy wines were drinkable.
In the olden days, we tasted very old wines – wines from the 1990s and even earlier. Nowadays, we have much more modern wines.
Also, this year, it was just my boyfriend and me. So we tried four wines, all from WineShop At Home, the winery I’ve been affiliated with for 20 years.
The White We Tasted This Year
We had a 2016 Mariana Vineyard Verdelho from Australia. Verdelho is a native of Portugal and the island of Madeira, where it is used mainly for the production of fortified wines like White Port and Madeira. Nearly 80% of Verdelho vines are in Australia, with only a tiny amount in Loire, France, California and Argentina. This was is good when it is aged for two to three years.
Our experience:v While we got hints of pineapple, the wine was well past its prime and went down the sink.
The Reds We Tasted This Year
We tried one 2010 and two 2013s.
We started with a 2010 Homage Cellars Lot No 39. Here is what was said about the wine in 2013:
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- “Solid red drinking wine. Deep red color with a nice nose of dark brooding fruit. Solid structure and light tannins with a hint of acidity. Medium finish.”
- “A nice offering with a good nose of fruit. Light tannins and good complexity. Short finish.”
Our experience: We got soft, velvety notes with little to no flavor 🙂
We then went to a 2013 Glory Cellars Hero’s Blend. Glory Cellars is part of WineShop At Home’s nonprofit, where a portion of the proceeds go to America’s Mighty Warriors. This wine is a California Bordeaux blend made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. It was known for its rich flavors.
Our experience: This wine was also past its prime but was drinkable.
Finally, we tried a 2013 WineShop At Home Artisan blend. WineShop At Home’s Artisan wines are our version of $100 wines. Because our wine are value-priced, they sell for around $70. At their prime, they taste great.
Our experience: As the most expensive wine, this one was the most drinkable, but, once again, past its prime.
Happily, we had a new bottle of Barnard Griffin Petit Verdot to enjoy after the four bottles went down the sink.
